i'm john seigenthaler, and see you back here at and you can get the latest news on aljazeera.com. on america tonight, florida's invisible children and the system that failed them. this is cold and calculating an evil. >> an investigation into shocking cases of abuse, neglect and the state's failure to protect. >> everything we know and think we know about air 370, there is every theory about what happened is flawed. >> at home, on the range.

the life after on american treasurer and way of life. >> i continue to get up and dealing with the time and living the way we live. >> good evening, thanks for joining us. every year 3 million confirmed reports of child abuse in the country and in every one of the those cases the social workers have to best decide on how to keep the children safe and that is a difficult job and the mistakes can be deadly in the first of two reports, shelia is reporting from florida where hundreds of children have died even though the investigators knew they were victims of

alleged child abuse. >> this was cold and calculating and evil. >> in a florida courtroom, sharon glass is facing sentencing for child abuse. a boy locked in this bathroom for months and the window is boarded up, sleeping on the bare floor, and starved. >> in the photographs they were gut wrenching. the initial impression it is looking like something from a concentration camp. >> the nearly 13 victim and weighing 40 pounds and wearing the too large clothes of an 8-year-old. >> this child is near death. >> i state na that 15 years i have had two or three cases that consider the conduct just pure evil. >> this is a case that the department knew about and warned

about for years. ex-husband alone reportedly calls the child abuse hot line a dozen times. until he says he was told to stop calling. the teachers and principals called again and again and reported bruises and black eyes and always hungry. one teacher to worried she kept a diary and asks a brother why the victim missed two days of school, and i don't even know where he is. the calls ended when the boy was ri removed from school to be quote home schooled and the agency did nothing to stop that. >> the child becomes invisible and nobody knows what is going on with that child. >> over and over the department of children and families heard the troubles at the home shared

with the father. the boy was rescued 17 months later only after a chance encounter resulted in the police being called to the home in florida. the sharon glass case is not alo alone. the department children of families under fire for years for letting child abuse cases slip through the cracks often with deadly results. according to their own figures, there were 872 confirmed child abuse deaths and 437 of those cases the families were known to dcf. >> i don't want any child to die. >> esther runs the program for the children and families. >> in many of the cases, the

people who stepped up where a teacher or somebody were ignored and nothing was done. >> and in the glass case an investigation occurred. it is certainly, especially with a teacher that calls in, that is something we have to take seriously always. >> when you see this type of thing it is out rage. >> she's on out spoken critic of the the president of children and families. >> if we can't listen to teachers and failing to respond to the schools, how can we expect anything more sophisticated out of the system. >> is it broke? >> we are doing the same thing over and over and we have bad

results and we go back and we are making the same darn mistakes and it is broken. >> being punished and taped and arms and legs and put in a bath tub. >> water in the bath tub? >> no. they are in there all day and night. >> that is a call made to the hot line about children in another home well known to dcf two years before the glass case. teachers reported the children, twins, were often dirty and hungry. caseworkers never found anything wrong. >> when an investigator was finally sent -- >> the investigator never laid

eyes on the children. no visual. >> so never entered the home? >> no. it was a violence of the regular eye ewe lagss. they found the twin drenched in chemicals and barely breathing in the truck. the father unconscious and lying in the ground. prosecutors say she had been beaten to death by the adopted father. they are charged with firs degree murder and i attempted murder and could be facing the death penalty. a report commissioned by the state found that visible red flags were missed. it was the third inquiry in less than three years. >> it is complex and difficult work. >> when taking over, esther inherited the agency suffering from deep budget cuts

$179 million in 2011 and troubling personnel problems. the dcf inspector general reported 99 investigatorers and supervisors fired or resigned in 2012, most for falsifying the reports. they commissioned a review to find out where the agency was failing. >> what we found out is that the reason that a lot of the deaths happened is because we were not focussing on the right red flags. >> what was missing? >> what was missing was there is a population of children that are most at risk. these are the nonverbal children. 0-4. disabled children with certain risk factors, substance abuse, violence in the home, those are the big three. >> the department of children and families started a pilot program and assigning two caseworkers to children three and younger to the families with

risk factors and the high profile deaths continue. like the death of jordan. she was rereunited with the mother and she had lost custody of the children three years ago after one of the children died. following that, she reported she was overwhelmed. no one intervened, even after the family's caseworker learned she was held out of day care that she had a boo boo she didn't want anybody to see. she died and was buried in a shallow grave. >> we have to strengthen the pieces. >> ray shell fryer is charged

with homicide in the death. the investigation into the twin's death is reopened. fryer is in jail awaiting trial. the u.s. department of health and human services says that florida has a higher rate of child death after family reunification than other states. >> then is case of michael, a three-year-old that suffocated in october after being wrapped head to toe in six layers of blankets as a form of punishment and a public revuke of the dcf. there was a child conviction in michigan. >> should they have known? >> yes. >> why didn't they know? >> it was an oversight. >> in the brevard county choom

sharon glass receives 40 years for child abuse and neglect. the boyfriend has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing. julia lynch the charge of the prosecutions. >> can you tell us how the boy is doing? >> much, much better. much, much better. when he testified at the trial he looked healthy and in a good home environment now. >> the judge is saying that the department of children and families has to require the investigators to have degrees in social work. turnover is 20% a year. higher at local child welfare agencies. >> we have to create special work schools for this in the florida universities and we should pay for the education. and you pay them better so that there's not this constant turnover. >> this all takes money.

>> well, do you care about children? are these just throw away children and families that nobody cares about or do you understand that this really important work and that the state of florida has the obligation to take care of the children. >> she's leaving the job in may to take a position as chief of staff at the miami county state office. a big part of what is going on in florida and said in many other states too is a same approximately and essential question of follow up. the caseworkers may know that a parent has a drug or alcohol problem and they leave the children in the dangerous homes without the monitoring and follow up and that takes money and money for better trained and better paid workers.

>> florida all these storys from florida, is it that much worse than the other states? >> there are troubled states. arizona is another example. florida has a high rate of child death. where cases are closed, caseworkers who are overobject to the form of the questioned, under paid, and over burdened with the case files and under the pressure to close the files and move on. >> and years and years of this, how did it get to that? >> it has been going or for years. it is not just with the current legislature. it is a long time. as the judge said for years the same red flags are waving and investigations find the same red fleg flags and yet they continue

to make the same mistakes. >> a multitude of leaders in this act and what is going oen there? >> it is the job in florida nobody wants. esther took the position when it became opened. in the story we talked about 427 children over five and a half years, he resigned and since 1998, eight heads of the department. no continuity and no willingness to provide the leadership. >> so much heart break for the children. tomorrow you are going to talk about the other vulnerable children in the state of florida and still children who are abandoned within the system. >> yes, a civil rights lawsuit

and launched a suit against the state of florida and unjustly se regrating and isolating disabled children in nursing home and warehousing them in the nursing homes. for the parents of disabled children, it is just so painful that they cannot have their children at home. >> state of florida, you don't care. you don't. this is one father that can tell you that. like i say, you don't care about my son or the rest of these kids. and i see it and live it every day. >> andrew martinez there and talking about his son andrew and he can't care for him at home and he's in a nursing home. >> and warehoused away. this is the investigation tomorrow on america tonight and

we look into that and thank you for being with us tonight. >> when we return, everyone thinks they know what happened. so why is the fate of flight 370 still a mystery? a closer look at the competing theories and why all of them have flaws.

>> on the story that the word is

puzzling over, the disappearance of flight 370, thailand saying they have picked up a radar ping and china cleared the citizens interest terror links. every day is bringing a new theory about what happened and tonight we report much of the speculation is flawed and the plane is still missing. >> passengers families gathered in the beijing hotel and worried and angry and demand answers from the government and receive little comfort in return. they have threatened to stop eating while waiting for something, anything, to explain what happened. i can accept the criticisms and mistakes says one of the employees, but he tells the relatives he's unable to give

them the answers they want and the search crews kr scouring 2 million miles for signs of the missing boeing 777 and the aviation experts are weighing in on the mystery. >> i think the very lack of information and the lack of the evidence inspires to be armchair investigators. >> the book cockpit confidential and runs a blog ask the pilot, one explanation is an electrical fire on board and the pilot might have been trying to land at the closest airstrip. this theory actually seems to make sense. >> that is why the communications components are lost or switched off and maybe a fire having effects on it.

>> a bomb the less plausible. >> so much evidence that the plane changed course and proceeded for amount of time in ra different direction if in fact there was something quick and catastrophic the wreckage would be where the point of contact was lost. >> and the possibility of a terror takeover. and another theory, the idea that the plane avoided radar detection by tucking around the si singpore jet. >> this is conceivable and possible but explaining how it remained undetected once it went on going. >> smith says despite the need need for answers, patience

listen key. >> people want immediate answers, fast answers and complete answers and with aviation incidents like this we don't always get those. >> for the families of the missing passengers and crew members the patience is wearing thin. >> i told you yesterday i spoke to a chinese journalist and saying that is quite different for the families to come together in this way, this is quite a different situation r for them and demanding answers from the chinese government and the leader ship, are they dwrauing together in new ways? >> it is intense it is becoming and we are frustrated not knowing and top on top of that the grief that these awkward grief they don't know what happened and they don't know where they are and at the point of exhaustion and no longer going to briefings and other people coming together and putting the rage together and

feeling like they have gotten wrong information and lied to and one o effective guys saying i am the malaysia ambassador needs to come and address us. they feel like they want answers and unfortunately there aren't any. >> i imagine the frustrations growing among those folks. thank you so much. >> it is a special and tragic fraternity that bonds together the families of flight 370 and others that lost loved ones in air crashes. heidi snow created access, a services after losing her fiance. what makes your organization different it is grief counselling by the people who have been there. >> right. yes. after losing my fiance one of the important things to me is

having somebody to talk with that had been through it before. i was paired with a woman that lost her fiance. >> she understands in a way we couldn't understand your grief and must change from day-to-day and those families in if flight 370 are left with a lot of questions and you had questions too? >> yes, my fiance's remains were not found for five years and i hung on to the hope and i wanted to talk about him and keep him alive and the thing with most of the air disasters we all, we all deal with the window of time no certainty they were actually aboard the flight and in some cases the plane is not found for some time. for example, one of the board members lost her father in a

private plane crash and taking three weeks to locate the plane and the only thing they nigh was he left the airport and they searched for the plane and she was mentioning how difficult this time is and she knows what they are going through when you don't have answers and no information. >> does an event like this, this quite a few years for you and some of the others but is this bringing back the emotions and bringing others into this need for support services? >> absolutely. so since this incident we have had a surge of calls affected by air disasters going back to 50s and they are reaching out, this is bringing us all back today one and reremember how hard the time was and we are

understanding the families and we were there and remember not getting the answers and remembering that they are bonding together and that tends to happen with large aviation disasters, people coming together to get the answers and i remember that very well with flight 800. i remember trying to make sense of what happened. when you say good-bye you think it is a couple of days or weeks and i couldn't imagine that he could be gone and that was the final good-bye. there's so many answers we were waiting for. >> in your case there was reck aj found quickly. but you can understand how these folks want to hang on every belief, every possibility. yesterday we heard about a young woman that is treat r to her father as though he's alive, when he's coming for dinner or

others who are wanting to believe that maybe it is a hijacking and maybe a possibility. is that going through the mind of somebody waiting for the answers, seems ir rational to others but? >> absolutely. i mean, that is why it is so important to have somebody else that had been through it before and she understood maybe he wasn't aboard the plane. maybe he actually managed to swim to the safety. i held on to that, i needed that and that is really what got me through the difficult weeks and i held on to that and i wanted to keep everything the same as it was before he left and it was a very critical part of the grieving process for me and talking about him and keeping him alive and the fact there's a lot of media out there and addressing this, but in time we

tend to get another influx of calls when the realities are setting in and people are accepting the loss and in this case, we don't know what the outcome will be but in most cases it is a difficult time too when the hope goes away and tough accept they are gone. and sometimes there might not be an answer and a lot of the 9/11 famili families for example, they just want to work that day and calling us as well. >> i can only imagine. we cannot possibly comprehend is grief. thank you for talking with us. >> thank you. >> emotional support services access is your organization. thanks so much. >> we continue on america tonight looking at a new ratcheting up, tensions in

crimea and what options the u.s. and the allies have to end the crisis in ukraine.

>> now, the stories making the headlines tonight, raging flames in seattle adds a news chopper crashes and burns and hitting two cars. two were killed. >> as syria's war is entering the 4th year, the syrian embassy

shutting down the headquarters in the u.s. >> falling up on the story from last night the retired selledierman is receiving the honor and the president giving out the medals for the highest honors. >> the growing conflict between russia and ukraine over the future of crimea taking a dramatic turn today and attack by masked gunman left a serviceman dead. now this under scores the tensions as the shooting is coming hours after a dramatic event, president putin signing the bill that officially makes crimea part of russia. the new reality as celebrated by moscow supporter and reading

russia and crimea together forever. >> we are proud that we have a president like putin and happy that crimea is part of russia. >> putin's strong stands on crimea and under scoring before the parliament and insisting that russian's decisions are not dictated by the west. >> on behalf of the conscious of people, crimea has always been and remains part of russia. >> o that said, putin is quick to add that russia has no interest in expanding the homed on ukraine. >> don't believe those that scare you about russia, who say that other regions are going to follow of crimea. we don't want a division of ukraine. we don't need that. >> but the west isn't buying it. vice president biden toured eastern europe in a bid to reassure this neighbors poland

and latvia. >> russia is justifying the land grab and the world has seen through the actions and rejected the logic, the flawed logic behind those actions. >> while the white house issued another stern warning to moscow. >> i don't think russia has a doubt that we have the tools available and the authority available to heighten the cost to russia for the transgressions that have occurred oocht>> so a far the u.s. used limited tools, freezing assets of the 11 russian officials and allies are echoing the warnings not to push further. >> there is a grave danger of a provocation elsewhere in ukraine that becomes a pretext for military exka lagss.

>> that deadly shooting of a ukrainian officer raised new tensions and he's the first person to be killed in that region. nick is on the scene and has more. >> a possibly dangerous situation. for the first time since the russian troops invaded they opened fire and killed a ukrainian soldier and when we arrived the police took the position. outside of the base 2174 a possibly dangerous situation. for the first time invading they opened fire and kill add soldier. the police took a position. base is now run by russians and as the journalists tried to film

they tried to make sure we didn't. by first grabbing the camera and kicking a member of our team. throughout the time here they didn't want us to show what happened inside and occupying the russian snipers killed the ukrainian soldier. this is the ukrainian military base that white building there and behind it that tall building we saw what appeared to be russian snipers leaving the roof of the building and enjoying the high ground over the military base and over here the unfinished apartment building more evidence of the russian troops inside of there and fired into the ukrainian military base and the marks on the walls are showing that the ukrainian soldiers are firing back. that is a first.

today ukraine's military told the soldiers to fire back at the russians, up until now they were ordered not to shoot no matter what. but today was the day everything changed. thanks to the man that crimea residents consider their president. the first pizza place in the soviet union and when the russian president said that crimea is returning to russia, even the youngest cheered. when welcoming crimea to russia, and when putin finished -- for this crowd it is fair july 4th. they sang the russian national

anthem. ♪ the owners had always pledged allegiance to. >> we consider this independence day. we have waited so long. this is the most important day of our lives. with putin as our president our dreams have come true and not felt comfortable in a stranger's home and now we are at peace. they have worked here for 12 years and for every kind word for putin the opposite for president obama. why should the u.s. and obama dictate to us, dictate to the u.s. and we'll make our own decisions in our own home ourselves. we weren't ro protected in ukraine. russia is our home. this is headed to where she considers home, outside

parliament they have changed the name to declare themselveses the independent remembpublic of cri. the symbols are painted over. inside base 2174, the russian flag is flying. but today is the independence day and complete when all of the bases are over run and controlled by russia. >> after the break, a new union, russia welcomes crimea, while the u.s. and the west attempt to hold the line against any further advances into ukraine.

>> now, this is all being experienced in europe and russia and joined from london, and you have experience in moscow and seen president putin speak and you have seen the emotionalism he brought to this particular address and what is that about? >> it is certainly not by accident and very well, i think,

scripted and crafted and a lot of theatre that took place there. on one hand speaking to the international audience about the importance of crimea to russia and a lot for domestic consumption and worried about what happened and coming to moscow itself. he's wored about the civil run rest in russia and the arab spring and demonstrations taking place in kiev. this is a great distraction for russia that has a lot of problems, he stood up, waved the flags and lots of applause. it was a moment for putin and reclaiming the near afar and setting what was wrong right, the poor ethnic russians in crimea who have been cast aside like a bag of potatoes was his

analogy. this was a wonderful stage and platform for him today to distract people away from the problems of russia and getting putin, he's up 10% in the polls, 70% in the last week and he's seen a rise, of course they have not seen much of the other side of the story, but he's used this to every possible length to boost the popularity and showing he's saving theest nick russians in ukraine. >> and clearly, making a difference and playing well with the folks at home, and you referenced how the international audience would be viewing this as well. the other part of this address had to do with russia's ambitions in ukraine and eastern ukraine particularly and what is the message there to the rest of the west, europe and to the united states? >> well, he said he wasn't

interested in splitting apart ukraine. the market seemed to respond to that. i talked to aen bah banker today and we read that as putin stopping at crimea. but the politics in kiev are not reassured and feeling he's going to go to eastern ukraine. the talk about he's saving ethnic russians in crimea and could be people dead there as he drew analogies to the u.s. support for kosovo and we are doing the same in crimea, all across europe today there was a resounding no and a lot of cincinnatiism to his claim he was doing anything great, just grabbing land. >> thank you for your report there. >> on the options available to

president obama, bill is joining us here. bill, early on, well before talking about the referendum and senator mccain said no military intervention and is that still the case or considering that as the option? >> no movement in the u.s. to consider military intervention. it is splitting the republican party, you have a lot of noninterventionists. mccain is the leading interventionist in the country and he's got a few people with him and most of the country is not with him. the democrats not so much. hillary clinton tries to be tough and not talking about military intervention. >> not even any sort of military advi advisers of show of strength? >> we could give military aid to

ukraine for them to use if russia invades eastern ukraine, which is a real possibility, yes, we can do that. we can put antiballistic missiles in the czech and that was part of bush's agenda and obama decided not to do that. now we could do that. a few other things to do, we could agree to send natural gas supplies to western europe, which depends on russia for the gas and if that were to be cut off that is a useful thing. troops, missile strikes and military action, no. >> so far, the diplomatic sanctions very, very narrow band of individuals, any appetite for anything stronger, more forceful from the u.s. on that front and would have to work that without with europe. >> you see here the problem is that the united states is not

directly threatened by this. it is a violation of international law and norms, apparently we can't tell from the phony election, but if the crimeans voted freely they would have voted to join russia. there is little that the united states is able to do at this point and we don't feel threatened. >> and the american public is not glamouring. >> we can't have a cold war without the athlete of communism. it is a sort of wild west capitalist country. it is not directly threatening the u.s. without the communist threat or a threat from islamic radicals like 9/11, the americans are not feeling threatened by this. >> thank you.

ahead, home on the range. we meet an american treasure, wrangling life and fatherhood with his heart.

the stream is uniquely interactive television. in fact, we depend on you, your ideas, your concerns. >> all these folks are making a whole lot of money. >> you are one of the voices of this show. >> i think you've offended everyone with that kathy. >> hold on, there's some room to offend people, i'm here. >> we have a right to know what's in our food and monsanto do not have the right to hide it from us. >> so join the conversation and make it your own. >> watch the stream. >> and join the conversation online @ajamstream. >> these protestors have decided that today they will be arrested

>> these people have chased a president from power, they've torn down a state... >> what's clear is that people don't just need protection, they need assistance.

finally from us this hour, the dream of so many little boys liviing large and real and in te great american west. trying to preserve a special part of the culture and passing it on. that is in helena, montana. ♪ i have seen things and been places that people would pay millions of dollars to go see. and lived it. the cowboy that's about all i have ever known. i like to rope everything. i try to rope bears, deer, elk, and if it moves or run i try to get a rope on it.

i ride a lot of colts for outside people and do some of my own i do, and if somebody calls and needs help, that is where i go. different outfits need people, doctor the calfs or help them. i don't know if i'm professional by i'm a cowboy. i just want to be able to say whatever needs to be done i get it it done. get the job done. i got a wife that puts up with me and then i got two boys that i'm trying to make them cowboys.

they are getting to be pretty good cowboys. they are pretty good help. they are starting to figure it out and we keep going. my kid of mine is showing off. i just think it's a good way to be brought up, you know, and they get to learn how to deal with animals and the work ethnic, you know, coy bows have a good work ethic. >> i have had cows since being those boy's age. i want to a rancher and sustain and live the good life with your family, you know, rancher is a good life. did it. hard tore make a living, you know, a lot more families could

make it and now it is tougher. we keep working at it. i just keep getting up, i enjoy what i do. i can't complain. cowboying is dying. i don't know if there will be cowboying, if i give my kids a chance to do it now when i can teach them a few things and maybe they'll find a loop they'll get into it, you don't know. can't count on it. you know. things are changing. so we'll see. got to dealing with times and living the way you live. i was guiding hunters and a horse got lose and i took after it and knocked he off of my horse and i slid 30 feet and hit

a tree. i spent 21 days in the hospital and don't remember about three months and having that wreck gave me a wake up call that i needed to appreciate what i have. and the life i get to live. i was wanting more and more and really now i'm satisfied with what i have. i still want, i don't want material things, i want to keep improving in my riding and i want to get to have more ranch and get my kids to appreciate what i think is important in life. if they can get something out of that, you know, i'm not go to make them be cowboys if that isn't what they want. i just want to try to give them the opportunity that i had. hold it tight. >> what are you going to do?

>> come forward. a little bit. >> dad, can i hope one. >> dally. >> i can't. >> hold it tight. back up, back up. as me being a parents, i got to teach them and push them, and expect them to pull their weight. >> coil up. coil up. you got to hold him tight. >> i'm holding him tight. >> over here, logan. back up. back up. this is the first time they have done it.

logan. forward. forward. forward. my goal is making it to 30. i'm 7 years over that. i lived a good life already, so now it is just bonus. god gave men two legs, one to put on each side of a horse. that's how i live. that is it for us. good night. more of america tonight tomorrow. welcome to al jazeera america america. here are tonight's top stories. they are calling it historic day in russia. president putin told the

ukrainian people, russia has no plans to divide their country. meanwhile, a ukrainian soldier killed in an attack on a military base near crimea's capitol. the investigation and search still underway for the missing malaysia flight 370. relatives of some passengers say they will go on a hunger strike if the airline does not give them more information. thailand said the radar might have detected the plane minutes after the communication systems were turned off. veterans of three wars, 24 were honored the medal ofhon. only three are still alive. they served in wars decades ago but were overlooked because of race and religion. a new study loowarns of a looming retirement crisis. the study found fewer than half workers even tried to calculate

how much they will really need. those are the headlines. i am john seeinginthaller. an inside look at the world's most dangerous drug cartal and its other business, organ harvesting. "consider this" is next. new information once again deepens the mystery of what happened to the missing malaysian airlines plane. we will have the latest on what may have been done to the autopilot. a forther south american president condemns violence in venzuela. is most of what we thought we knew about eating saturated fats wrong. the controversial call to land a bachelor before their bachelor's degree. i am antonio morrow. welcome to "consider this." here is more on what's